Sunday Conversation

Well, the first weekend of the Panthers' season is in the books, so let's look back at what we've seen:

-- David Booth is money. Absolute money. Always seems to be in the right place, is taking a lot of shots (some errant, some right on) and is using his speed and strength to create a lot of problems. Scouting report should read: Watch No. 10. Of course, with Weiss and Zednik on his line, that could open things up for them.

-- Good to see the loud ovation for Richard Zednik last night. He seemed to appreciate it. Didn't notice him get too bothered by the media in Raleigh, but that is going to change when we visit Montreal next week. Maybe they can sneak him out of the arena on the equipment truck.

-- Nathan Horton was much better on faceoffs Saturday than he was on Friday.

-- Bryan McCabe's back injury looked serious initially, and I'm sure everyone is real happy it's nothing major. He should be back once the bruising goes down and the muscles in his back calm down.

As far as people calling out TSN for irresponsible reporting (remember they came out Saturday morning and said McCabe had a broken back), there is a side story to this. From what I've heard, the source TSN apparently trusted was a good one. It wasn't Jacques or anyone from the Panthers, but from Carolina instead.

Remember, the Carolina medical staff looked at Bryan and diagnosed him with some sort of fracture. It would be very easy for a member of the Carolina media/broadcast team to ask a member of the medical team what happened, get their diagnosis, then pass that along that info to friends in Canada.

Of course, we know now the intial diagnosis was premature and wrong; McCabe's MRI revealed no fracture.

Anyway, that's just the way I saw how that story developed. I've gotten a lot of emails from people saying TSN made up the story and that's just not true. They had a good source, but that source turned out to be wrong. It happens.